Step Into the Light

"MOTHER!"

Maul screamed as he was being pulled into the ship by two mandalorian soldiers from his now dead army. Not many beings in the galaxy knew he was the blood son of mother Talzin, who was being killed in front of his eyes by Grievous. He had lost his place alongside his master, his brother, his life, and now his mother. It was over for him, nothing was left for him to fight for, not even destroying Obi-Wan was tempting for him in that moment.

Maul was no longer feeling his body as he was being dragged inside the starship, everything felt numb, his sight no longer saw the enemy, as his heart was finally broken into pieces, pieces which could no longer be fixed, in was in that moment that he did something he thought he would never do... he was crying.

His whole life wasn´t a merry one, but his recent months since he returned to the now on war galaxy, were the darkest in his life. He was ruined, humiliated, and emotionally destroyed, not even his hatred would give him strength.

On his part, Sidious found himself smiling, a potential sith contender against his future rule was finally erased, everything could proceed as planned now that Maul was gone, but he couldn´t allow his former apprentice live, he had to be destroyed. Unknown to any of them, between Talzin´s last breaths, she would do what any mother would, she would send her son away, protecting him from the dark lord of the sith.

Everyone had little time to react as Talzin casted one last spell, the beginnings of a smile forming in her face, Sidious noticed this, but it was too late.

"NO! MOTHER!" That was the last thing Maul would say before being covered in a green light, blinding everyone within range. Palpatine tried to stop the spell, and inserted his blade into Talzin´s abdomen. The nightsister was laughing.

"Farewell my son." Doing her best to breath, Talzin turned to face the sith lord. "You loose, Sidious." With those words, Talzin dissipated from existence in a green light, her son would now be safe, in a planet far away from the outer rim.

Palpatine remained silent, doing his best to hide his frown. He had lost an opportunity, and he didn´t like that.

"Blast that ship off the sky!" Sidious ordered, getting a nod of confirmation from the general of the droid army, after that, he proceeded to leave, only to be stopped by his now apprentice, count Dooku.

"Master, what do we do about Maul?"

"Don´t worry about him, there are more important things to do." He could see the look of concern on his apprentice, making him cease his worries to avoid any further interruption. "I don´t sense him being a threat in the near future. Maul is finished, destroyed, he won´t attempt anything against us." Indeed, Maul was too weak to face them, and even though he was still alive, there were many more things at stake to focus on one loose end, Maul could wait.

Canterlot castle - Equestria

Far away from the galaxy at war, far away from the clone wars conflict, laid a planet oblivious to any external conflict, a planed that housed several pacific creatures, and although some of its inhabitants were dangerous, none of them compared to the violence seen by the galactic war, this planet is Equis, land of many unique creatures.

Inside Equis, one particular kingdom was having an annual party, this kingdom is Equestria, land of ponies. This would be a night everypony was going to remember, and not because of the greatness of the party.

Music, voices and many more noises could be heard coming out of the magnificent castle in Canterlot, a particular pink flash rushing from place to place, leaving smiles to everypony inside, it was a beautiful night, and nothing had gone wrong. The preparations for the party were a success and no accident would ruin this year´s gala, as such, it was time for a speech.

"Attention everypony! I would like to propose a toast for a successful Great Galloping Gala." Celestia, princess of the sun, said, getting the attention of everypony inside the great hall, then turned to her left and muttered silently. "... At last. Anyway, enjoy the night, we all deserve it."

Everypony inside the room clapped their hooves on the floor before proceeding with the Gala.

Amongst the several ponies inside, a group of equines were having a blast, enjoying everything the party had to offer. They were the Elements of Harmony, defenders of Equestria, and the ones who helped make the party... well it was mostly Pinkie Pie.

"Yeehaw! I was afraid this year´s gala would turn into a mess!" Applejack said, sipping her drink with a smile on her face.

"Indeed, it´s a good thing nothing can go bad now, right?" Twilight replied, instantly getting her mouth shot by Rainbow.

"Don´t tempt our luck Twi! Haven´t you noticed that everytime we say something like that, something happens?"

Twilight rolled her eyes as she pulled the pegasus´ hoof away from her mouth. "That´s just superstition Rainbow! I don´t think there´s a bad luck spirit waiting for us to say that!"

"Don´t tell me I didn´t warn you." Rainbow exclaimed, shrugging at the alicorn´s words. It wasn´t certainly the first time Twilight had been proved wrong with her assumptions, in fact, it was very true that everytime they said something like that, something bad would happen. Before Twilight could argue, Rarity entered the conversation.

"Oh! Come on darling, I´ll have to side with Rainbow on this one. Our luck isn´t the best one, it wouldn't really surprise me if a giant dragon suddenly breaks into the party."

"Oh! Oh! What about a red-faced monster with horns! That would be insidious!" Pinkie said excitedly, behind her, Fluttershy released a squeak, which wasn´t heard by the rest.

"Please Pinkie, don´t call it!" A shaken up Rainbow exclaimed, trying to avoid the pink pony from speaking any further.

On her part, Twilight was getting tired with the discussion, and decided to end it once and for all. "That´s just superstition! Come on, we finally have a successful gala, nothing bad has happened in nearly two hours, so what´s the worst thing that could happen? Let´s just enjoy the night!"

As soon as she finished her sentence, the rest of the group looked at her with uneasy eyes, which cause Twilight to roll her eyes.

"I agree with Twilight." Applejack said, getting a thank you as a response from the alicorn, but before anypony could speak, the cowpony turned to face Twilight. "But if anything bad happens tonight, it´s on you!"

"Argh!" That was the last thing Twilight said before separating from the group, heading towards the princesses, and leaving a silent group behind.

The silence lasted for a few seconds before Rainbow broke the ice. "So... umm, are you having a Pinkie sensation right now?"

"Nope." Replied Pinkie, looking at her body to perceive any anomaly. For a second everypony released a deep breath, relaxing themselves until the pink pony talked again. "Wait! I feel something on my belly!"

"Well, what does it mean?!" Asked an impatient Rainbow.

"It´s a dangerous warning! An important indication, it means..." As if she wanted to create suspense, Pinkie remained silent for a few seconds, causing the rest to expectantly stare at her, waiting for her response, finally, she spoke. "That I´m hungry! Where´s the cake!"

Everypony in the group (with the exception of Pinkie) Facehoofed, at the same time they re-released their breath. It would seem nothing bad was going to happen that night, making everypony relax.

With one last confirmation from Pinkie, the rest of the group resumed their own activities, enjoying the rest of the night. Pinkie was about to do her things, until she felt something, her entire body began to shake, it were her Pinkie senses working, telling her something dangerous was about to happen inside the place.

"Umm... g-g-girls?" Pinkie tried to call the rest of the group, but they were out of reach, and her voice wasn´t heard because of the several sounds inside the hall. The night would be totally memorable.

On her part, Twilight had started a conversation with princess Celestia, which involved information about recent events in Ponyville, how she felt about being a princess, and what she could do to be better. Twilight was Ceslestia´s pride, maybe she wasn´t her first protégée, but she was certainly the one with the purest heart, she had to be to have friends like the ones she has. A true master of magic, paying respect to her cutie mark.

The day Celestia made her an alicorn, she could feel happiness trying to burst out from her, Twilight deserved it.

"It´s been quite a few months since the castle was formed in Ponyville, I still miss my library, my home." Twilight released a sad sigh from the memories, but was quickly replaced with a thins smile. "At least Spike is enjoying our new home, even though he hates having to organize a library twice the size of my old tree house."

Celestia released a small chuckle, then cleared her throat to speak.

"You know? I´m very proud of you Twilight, you have exceeded every expectation, and you continue to grow." Her words made the purple alicorn release a wider smile. "I know being a princess isn´t an easy task, but I´m sure you´ll be able to..."

A few seconds passed as Twilight waited for Celestia to finish her sentence, she never did. With curiosity she looked up to face the princess, getting shocked by the sight. Her mentor lied completely frozen in place, staring blankly at the nothing.

"Princess? Princess! What´s wrong!" Out of desperation, Twilight poked Celestia´s arms with her hoof. "Come on, Princess! What´s wro..."

Before she could finish her sentence, a loud noise interrupted the party, followed by a bright green light emanating from the middle of the room, and causing everypony to panic.

"What is that?" Twilight asked to herself, then got into combat position.

The light remained for a few seconds, until it began to diminish.

"Twilight! Any idea on what the hay is that?!" Applejack asked as she approached the equally shocked alicorn.

"I don´t know, I just hope it´s not problems!"

"At least I can put the blame on ya!" Applejack smiled, getting the attention of Twilight.

"For the last time, it wasn´t..."

"Mother, no... mother!"

That was it. What came inside the light caught everypony off guard, chilling their entire bodies. For a moment, Twilight lowered her guard, as the voice that spoke, clearly screamed pain. It sounded like crying, as every sentence was followed by a sob. Somepony was clearly in pain, due to this, Twilight decided to get close, the rest of the group tried to follow, but the new princess placed a hoof in front of them, motioning for them to cease their advance.

"Excuse me, sir?" The alicorn spoke, trying to get a look on who was amongst the light. "Are you alright? We can help you if you´re hurt."

The voice didn´t answer, focusing instead in sobbing.

"Please, come out, we can´t help you if you don´t..." Before she could finish her sentence, Twilight released a loud gasp. Between the dissipating green light, didn´t lay a pony, but something else. A tall creature with red face, and several horns on his head, laid kneeled down on the floor, simply watching at the ground, and not even bothering in looking around him.

It wasn´t long before everypony in the hall released a collective gasp, but nopony ran around in panic, they were terrified, though. Twilight however, had defeated her fear, which was replace by sadness and pity, as the creature in front was clearly at the brink of complete sadness, and from the words he was speaking, it was clear he had just lost his mother.

"I don´t know what you are, but I can see you´re in pain, please! Let me help you."

Once again, the figure didn´t answer.

Getting all of her courage, Twilight finally decided to get closer to the creature, once in front of him, she placed a hoof on his shoulder, trying to gain his attention.

"What is it? Why are you... UGH!" Out of nowhere, and for the horror of everypony, Twilight was being lifted from the floor, as if an invisible force had taken hold of her throat.

"Leave... me... ALONE!" Maul screamed in anger, as he stood up, and got closer to the alicorn to have direct eye contact with her.

"Hey! I don´t care what kind of freak you are, but you´re going to release my friend!" Rainbow replied, followed by the rest of the group, who were in combat position. However, Maul wasn´t scared, on the contrary, he was pissed, and broken, but mainly pissed.

To the horror of everypony, he seemed to tighten his grip on the young alicorn.

"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Then release Twilight!" Applejack screamed, her teeth clenching.

Maul was about to answer, when a powerful blast hit him, forcing him to release his grasp on Twilight.

"Twilight!" Celestia said, as she approached to the young alicorn, who was struggling to breath. "Are you alright?"

"yes, prin- cough! princess, I´m cough! cough! Alright."

"Elements! Get Twilight to safety while I deal with the creature!" Celestia ordered, and immediately, the group complied and proceeded to help Twilight to her hooves. Celestia then ordered the rest at the gala to head outside.

Once the princess was alone with the creature, she continued her approach, until she felt something. Rocks, candles, dishes and many more things around the enormous hall began to float in the air, then the floor began to shake, after a few seconds a loud scream came from under a pile of debris.

Rocks flew everywhere, as the creature from before roared in the air, before stretching both of his arms in front of him. Celestia had little time to react before an invisible force pushed her towards the other side of the hall, making her violently crash against a wall.

Pulling herself on her hooves, Celestia teleported behind the creature and released another blast, which was dodged by the raging Maul. Celestia blasted again, this time successfully striking the creature, who wasn´t entirely focused.

The princess slowly approached Maul, her horn glowing against him. Once in front of him, she prepared to strike, until he spoke again.

"What are you waiting for? End me!"

Instantly, Celestia turned off her horn, and wide opened her eyes. In all of her years of existence, she had never found a villain wishing to be dealt with, but maybe this creature was something else, her thoughts were soon cut short.

"Please! Just finish with this!"

"... No!" Celestia answered.

"You... will... end me... NOW!" Maul screamed, as he pushed the princess once again, this time Celestia managed to avoid hitting the wall, and teleported in front of the creature, who was now kneeling down on the floor.

"Who are you?" Celestia asked, her voice softening up.

Maul didn´t answer.

"Do you remember who you are?" She asked again.

"Always remember I am fear, always remember I am hunter, always remember I am filth, always remember... I am nothing!"

Celestia sighed at the response, and tried once again. "I know you´re in pain, but you have attacked two princesses, I´m sure you´ll understand if we take you to a cell, but we´ll talk in the morning, and I hope you are more cooperative by then."

Even though it was a threat, her voice was oddly soft.

"Do whatever you want."

With that, Celestia nodded, and proceeded to call a couple of guards. In the next half an hour, Maul was being taken to a cell for the rest of the night. This year, the gala has been ruined, but something bigger was about to begin.

The rest of the attendants left the palace and headed to their respective houses. Meanwhile the Elements decided to stay in Canterlot, there was much to do the next morning.